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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

' T. s. WILES.

MACHINERY FOR FOLDING AND CURLING GOLLARS.

N0. 258,334. 7 Patented May 23, 1882.

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MAOHINERY IEOR FOLDING AND GURLING GOLLARS.

No. 258,334. Patented May Z3, 1882.

\NITNEESEE: INVENTORI flyiigw 'dwww N. PETERS. Phclo-Ulhagrapller. Washington, D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS S. VVILES, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK.

MACHINERY FOR FOLDING AND CURLING COLLARS.

SPECIFICATICN forming part of Letters Patent No. 258,334, dated May 23, 1882,

Application filed February 18, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS S. WILES, a

citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented Improved ironed in flat form, and afterward folded in acurved line alon g the upper edge of the neckband, and curled lengthwise by first moistening the inner surface of the fold-line and partly folding the collar along that line by hand, and then completing pressing and drying the fold and curling the collar by holding and bending it lengthwise by one hand while applying a heated smoothing-iron by the other hand to successive parts of the concave hand side of the folded collar, while the opposite convex face side is supported on a stationary cloth-covered bed. By that slow and expensive process of folding and curling the collar the latter is liable to be folded, pressed, and

curved lengthwise unevenly, and a skilled operator is required to produce moderately satisfactory results.

The general object of my present invention is to produce mechanism by which starched and ironed collars having the curved fold-line section of a part of the same at the line z z in Fig. 2, and plan of some parts below that section, and viewed in the direction pointed by the arrow 3 in the latter figure. Fig. 4 is a plan of a collar starched and ironed in flat form, and Fig. 5 is a plan ot' the lower edge of the same collar after having been passed- Fig. 6 is a side eleven-- through the machine.

tion, partly in section, Fig. 7 aplan, and Fig. 8 a section, of a modified part of the same machine. Fig. 9 represents a broken longitudinal section of a part of the same machine on a larger scale than in Figs. 6 and 7.

Similar parts are marked by like letters in the different figures, and the directions. in which some of the parts move in use are indicated by arrows on or near the parts. i

A is the stationary frame, which supports the other portions.

B and O are two rollers, adapted to be pressed and rotated together with their adjacent surfaces moving in the same direction. The roller 0 has a hard smooth surface, and is adapted to he artificially heated. The roller B has a surface which will insure the endwisc passage of the fold portion of the starched and ironed and partly-folded collar through between the two rollers when the collar shall be suitably introduced to the rollers, and the latter properly rotated together and one suitably pressed toward the other, and which surface of the feeding-roller B will not materially injure the nicely-finished outer face surface of the folded collar in its passage between the rollers.

In Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 D is a common turndown collar, having the outer face portion, a, and band part b. i

In Fig. 4 the dotted line a 0 0. indicates the position of the curved fold-line of the collar when in flat form. The fold-line c c c of the flatly-ironed collar can be moistened by any suitable meansas, for instance, by using the device described for that purpose in United States Patent No. 234,156, dated November 9, 1880.

E is a guide for use in introducing and directing a partly-folded collar between the two rollers. This guide has an inwardly-extending thin part, (I, and an outer hollow tapering portion, e 0'0 extending partway around,but away from the part (I, so as to leave between them a limited passage-way for the folded or partly-folded collar, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 8, and so that the part (I shall serve as a guide for the inner edge of the fold and the portion e c a as a guide for the outer edge of the fold of the collar, and to bring its two parts, a and I), nearly together as they shall enter between the rollers. The guide E is inclined to the plane of contact or common tangent w m, Fig. 2, of the two rollers and on the same side of that plane as the roller 0, andso that the successive parts of the partlyfolded collar passing from the guide E to between the rollers are bent toward the roller 0 about as shown in Fig. 2 at w, and are pressed and dried in such bent condition by the heated roller 0, in combination with the feedingroller, so that the folded collar is discharged by the rollers in a curved orcurled form approaching that in, which the collar is to be worn.

In order to curve the folded collar lengthwise as it issues from between the feedingroller 13 and heated roller 0, and to retain the collar in such curved shape until it shall have lost much of the heat imparted to it by the roller 0, and shall thereby become set and stiff in such curvedform, I combine with those rollers the coneavely-curved. guide G, shaped and arranged so that it shall receive the folded collar as it issues endwise from between the rollers, and shall bend and direct it away from the plane of contact, 00 w, of the rollers, and in a course around but apart from the heated roller 0 about as indicated at '0 'v in Fig. 2.

- To materially increase the lengthwise curving action of the rollers B and G, in combination with the inclined guides E G, upon a folded collar passingalong the guides and between the rollers, and to lessen the liability of marring the finished outer surface of the folded passing collar and of breaking or injuriously straining the fabric along its fold-line, I make the collar-feeding surface portion of the roller B somewhat elastic and of much greater diameter than the roller 0, so that each successive part of the folded collar passing through the guide E and between the rollers shall be somewhat indented or depressed by the small hard roller into the elastic surface portion of the feeding-roller. To secure such elasticity in the surface portion of the feeding-roller, I commonly make the body of wood or other hard material, and cover it lightly by a layer of felt, and cover the felt by a layer or layers of muslin, which, when soiled or worn out, can be easily removed and a new muslin covering applied; but in carrying out this invention the surface portion of the feed-roller can be of any other suitable or equivalent elastic material.

vIn order that the folded collar, as it issues from between the rollers B 0, shall be curled lengthwise and simultaneously directed in a spiral course away from theguide E, or the place where the collar enters between the rollers, I make the guide G, with its concave surface, in the form of a section of the inner surface of a hollow cone, or flaring outward in the direction to which the collar inclines ed gewise in its course between and away from the rollers, about as represented in Figs. 2 and 3.

In carrying out this invention the guide G is to be supported, in combination with the roll- In the drawings the guide G has a socket,f, fitted to be turned to and fro and moved lengthwise on a cylindrical arm, g, Figs. 2 and 7, and fastened thereto in various positions by a screw, g, and the arm 1 is fast on a cylindrical stem, h,which is fitted to be turned and moved lengthwise to and fro in a socket in a shank, i, and fastened therein in various posit-ions by a set-screw, t", and the shank 'i has a slotted foot, j, Fig. 1,that canbe moved lengthwise and turned about a screw'bolt having a nut, j, by which the foot can be secured in different positions on the bed-plate of the machine.

The feeding-guide E is to have any suitable construction, and is to be supported by any convenient means in combination with the roll- In Figs. 1, 2, 6, and 7 its two parts, of and e e 0 are in one and the same sheet-like piece, which is secured to the stock k. In Fig. Sthe inner part, d, and outer portion, 6 e 0 are in separate pieces and independetly secured to the stock 70, the part c e e by the screws 1 and the part of by screws 12:, so that the part at can be adjusted with its inner end or edge at various distances from the bend e of the outer part, and so that either only the inner part, d, or only the outer part, c ee can be used, as may be desirable, in feeding various forms of collars to the rollers. In either case the stock has a screw-shank and nut, is, and is thereby adjustably secured to the slotted arm n of a cylindrical stem, n, Figs. 6 and 7, which fits and can be turned and moved lengthwise to and fro in a socket at 0 in the frame-work A, and can be fastened therein in various positions by a screw, 0, so that the guide E can be thereby adjusted at different distances from and at various inclinations to the plane of contact of the rollers,as may be desirable,in feeding to the rollers collars of greatly-different shapes, sizes, thicknesses, and curvatures of I05 fold-line.

The rollers B O are to be supported, rotated, and pressed together by any suitable means. In Figs. 1, 2, 6, and 7 the roller B is secured upon, so as to be rotated with and by, a shaft, H, which is supported in fixed bearings in the frame A, and has fast thereon the driving-pulley I, while I is an adjacent pulley loose on the same shaft. The roller G is secured to, so as to be rotated with and by, a shaft, J, Fig. 6, which is fitted to be revolved in bearings 19 2, Figs. 6 and 2, in a stock, K, that is pivoted at q q, Fig. 7, to the frame A, and has the part 19 between fixed guides r r, Fig. 2, so that the roller 0 can have a limited movement toward and from the roller B, while the roller 0 can be forced toward or against the roller B with different degrees of yieldin g pressure by means of a spring, 8, Fig. 2, compressed between the part 10 and a follower, t, actuated by an adj usting-serew, t, in the fixed frame. I

Rotary motion is imparted from the shaftH to the hard roller 0 by a gear, L, fast on that shaft, and engaging with a pinion, M, fast on a shaft which is mounted to rotate in the frame A, and carries a gear, N, that engages with a toothed wheel, 0, which is loose on the shaft H and engages with a pinion, P, Fig. 6, fast on the shaft J of said hard roller. By the gearing shown in Fig. 6 the roller will be revolved at a faster surface speed than the feeding-roller B, as is commonly preferred. In carrying out this invention the surface speed of the hard roller can be either the same as or faster or slower than the surface speed of the other roller, and in some cases the hard roller may be left free to be rotated by contact with the feeding-roller or with the collar passing between the rollers.

The roller 0 is shown tubular and open at one end in Figs. 1, 2, and 9, and it can be heated by means of a suitable hot iron placed in the roller; or by having the shaft J tubular, as shown in Fig. 9, and a current of suitably-hot air passed through that shaft and the roller; or by burning in the roller gas or mixed air and gas suitably supplied thereto by a pipe or pipes; or by means of a burner of the kind described in United States Patent No. 165,775, and having a jet-aperture, a, Fig. 9, forcibly supplied with gas or mixed air and gas by a pipe, Q, and an adjacent outerjet-aperture, a, forciby supplied with air by a pipe, R, surrounding and supporting the pipe Q and supported by a bracket, S, on the pivoted stock K, which supports the shaft J of the rollor; but any suitable known burner or means may be used to heat the hard roller 0 in carrying out this invention.

United States Patent N 0. 57,308 shows and describes a machine for molding, turning, or

flaring outward the fold portion of a folded paper collar by the combination and arrangement of a concave roller, a convex roller, a guide to direct the folded collar between the rollers and bend it toward the concave roller, and another guide to receive, bend, and direct the collar as it issues from between the rollers; but that patent does not show, describe, or mention any roller having an elastic, yielding, or cloth-covered surface, nor any means whatever for heatiu g one of the rollers. Consequently that machine was not capable of folding, drying, and curling a partly folded, starched, and ironed collar having amoistened fold-line, and that particular combination and arrangement of the two guides with the concave and convex rollers would not produce the plain fold required in starched and ironed collars having curved fold-lines.

United States Patent No. 173,096, to myself and Alonzo P. Adams, shows and describes a plain clothed roller combinedwith aplain hard roller of less diameter than the clothed roller, and means for supporting and rotating the rollers, pressing one against the other by a yielding force, and heating the hard roller, but without any folding and curling guides, so that that machine could not accurately fold and curl partly folded, starched, and ironed collars having curved lines of fold.

One great advantage secured by my invention, hereinafter claimed, is that by its use partly folded, starched, and ironedcollars having their curved lines of fold moistened can beaccurately folded, dried, and curled at onethird the cost of accomplishing a like result by the best methods and means new in common use in laundries.

I reserve my right to obtain a separate patent or patents for the portion of my invention hereinbefore described and not herein claimed.

What I herein claim as of my invention is.-

1. The combination, with the rollers B O, of the folding-guide E and the curling-guide G in the form of a section of the inner surface of a hollow cone, and arranged in respect to said rollers and folding-guide substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the roller B, having a covering of cloth, hard roller 0, and means, substantially as set forth, for heating said. hard roller, ot' the folding-guide E and curling-guide G, both arranged in respect to said rollers and each other substantially as described.

In testimony whereofI hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 16th day of February, 1882.

THOMAS S. WILES.

Witnesses:

THOMAS CALDWELL, M. E. WENDELL. 

